Description: This is a major new history of the British army during the Great War written by three leading military historians. Ian Beckett, Timothy Bowman and Mark Connelly survey operations on the Western Front and throughout the rest of the world as well as the army's social history, pre-war and wartime planning and strategy, the maintenance of discipline and morale and the lasting legacy of the First World War on the army's development. They assess the strengths and weaknesses of the army between 1914 and 1918, engaging with key debates around the adequacy of British generalship and whether or not there was a significant 'learning curve' in terms of the development of operational art during the course of the war. Their findings show how, despite limitations of initiative and innovation amongst the high command, the British army did succeed in developing the effective combined arms warfare necessary for victory in 1918.
Brief description: Professor Ian Beckett is now Honorary Professor at the University of Kent, having retired from there as Professor of Military History in 2015. His many publications include The Making of the First World War (2012), The Great War, 2nd edition (2007), Ypres: The First Battle, 1914 (2006), The First World War: The Essential Guide to Sources in the UK National Archives (2002) and, edited with Keith Simpson, the pioneering A Nation in Arms: A Social Study of the British Army in the First World War (1985). He is a past chairman of the Army Records Society, and is secretary of the Buckinghamshire Military Museum Trust.
Review Quotes: '... a very well written, measured account of high quality. At the price, the paperback is an essential purchase.' The Society of Friends of the National Army Museum Book Review Supplement